A kickstarter project has launched for a small form-factor PC case which looks rather like the Apple Mac Pro, but will be able to contain hardware which is probably much better for less cost.

The Dune case is 260 mm x 215 mm x 215 mm. Its designer is raising $130,000 on Kickstarter to get it to the shelves, and has already raised half the amount, with 8 days of fundraising to go. You can back the project from here. The aluminium-built case comes in rose gold and black.

The cylindrical design is a lot different from the Apple Pro, which has its key components arranged along three sides of a triangular structure, with cooling machinery in its black heart. The Dune Case is divided into three compartments vertically along the bore of the cylinder.

The centre has a mini-ITX motherboard with room for a full-height yet under 185 mm graphics card which is connected to the motherboard through a PCIe riser. The third compartment holds two 2.5-inch drives. A custom rear panel plugs into your motherboard. The main air channel is a 140 mm spinner that spouts warm air from the top. You need to find an SFX power supply and you are good to go

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The Kickstarter includes an option for a version for $289 with a power supply and $189 without.

Fruity cargo-cult leader CEO Tim Cook is defending forcing Apple fanboys to buy an ugly Quasimodo case if they want their iPhones to have a half decent battery life.

There has been much scorn poured on the case from the Tame Apple Press which considered the hunchback case as breaking Apple’s design ethos and from those who think it would be better to raise the standards of the world by actually supplying a phone with a reasonable battery life.

Tim Cook thinks it is unfair that people are mentioning that the case is ugly and has a hunched back. "I probably wouldn't call it 'the hump,'" Cook told blog site Mashable at the Hour of Code event..

He didn't offer an alternative description, but smartphone rival LG used the opportunity to tweet a photo of its LG V10 with the tagline "A moment of silence for those experiencing a bumpy ride." and the hashtag #TheHump.

iPhones are famous for their poor battery life so fanboys have to turn to external battery packs that fit into an oversize case or hang from a short cable as an accessory.

Apple said the battery boost from its $99 case (£79 in the UK, AU$165 in Australia) is enough to boost talk time to 25 hours, video playback to 20 hours and Internet use on 4G LTE networks to 18 hours.

Cook thinks most Apple users who charge their phones every day probably won't need the phone unless they are out hiking and you go on overnight trips ... it's kind of nice to have. Most Apple fanboys don’t ever go into the outdoors and their mums don’t let them stay overnight anywhere.

Unlike Apple's new design, battery cases such as those from Mophie are so stiff and firm that people often struggle to put them and take them off. If Apple's battery case was solid all the way around, people would face that same sort of struggle.

"Have you ever used other cases and tried to get them on... The guys had this great insight to put the bend in along with making it a smart case."

It's all about flexibility after all didn’t Quasimodo swing from the bells in Notre damn cathedral? No one said he was inflexible. But he didn’t win many medieval beauty contests either and Apple is supposed to be about style over substance.

While a big chunk of Americans don't believe Darwin's theories, it seems that Apple fanboys are doing their best to remove themselves from the genepool.

Apparently one of the most popular toys is an iPhone case which looks like a handgun. The theory is that if you put one in your pocket people will not mess with you or try to take your overpriced phone.

The reality, according to US coppers is that you are more likely to be shot by gangsters or cops who believe you are looking for a rumble. If someone rings you, you have to take it out of your pocket and it looks like you are drawing first.

New York City Police Department's 112th Precinct also tweeted about the dangers of carrying a smartphone in the gun-shaped cases.

"I would NOT suggest purchasing this cell phone case, which was designed to look like a firearm," the tweet reads.

The cases are available on a number of high profile US online retailers and reportedly start from just $4.99... r £3.20.

IT does not matter if most Apple fanboys are thin, spotty mummies boys either. In fact that is exactly the profile that tends to carry handguns to shoot up schools.

After three years being a naked circuit board the Raspberry Pi Foundation has launched an official case.

The Official Raspberry Pi case is a convertible unit enclosed with a white lid. A snap-on pink cover provides access to the internals. In either configuration, the case provides access to all the primary ports, including the micro SD slot, and the power and activity lights can be seen..

According to the Raspberry Pi Foundation it struggled to perfect the design and it spent a lot of time asking for changes and the moulding company to press out some new cases.

Spokesman Gordon Hollingworth wrote in the Foundation's bog:. "We went through literally dozens of imperfect iterations – lumps here and there, clips that didn't clip, inconsistent colours, ill-fitting parts, bits dropping off the case, incongruously fragile and snappy corners – and eventually we gave up and moved our business to a company a little more used to the type of high quality injection moulding that we required."

The end result is a case that "now clips together cleanly and stays clipped together, all the interfaces are 'just right' the colouring is perfect and it can be made in the quantities we were hoping for," says Hollingworth.

The case costs only £6 from the Raspberry Pi Swag Store, with an additional £3 for delivery. It's designed to fit the new Raspberry Pi 2, which was released earlier this year.

Makers of plastic casings for notebooks and cutting back on their manufacturing capacity as punters demand natty metal-alloy-chassis.

Reports from Taiwan suggest that the manufacturers are seeing a major downturn in demand for their products.

According to Digitimes Ju Teng, Huan Hsin and Zhan Yun Shanghai Electronics have been decreasing production capacities for plastic chassis due to shrinking demand for notebooks and fast growing adoption of metal-alloy chassis.

Ju Teng has been the exclusive supplier of metal-alloy chassis for use in Microsoft Surface tablets and is channelling 75 per cent of its 2015 capex of US$80 million into expanding CNC machines for more metal production. Ju Teng will also reduce plastic chassis capacity by 13 per cent through moving equipment out of commission, the sources indicated.

Huan Hsin has been consolidating production lines to reduce operating losses, resulting in continued reduction in plastic chassis capacity.

Zhan Yun, a subsidiary of Quanta Computer, has decreased plastic chassis capacity to the point that it has lost the will to live independently and will merge with Quanta.

If you want to blame anyone for the end of plastic, it is all Apple's fault for starting the fashion. Samsung has adopted metal-alloy chassis for its flagship Galaxy S6 and invested US$1.358 billion to set up metal-alloy chassis production lines in Vietnam.

A Californian judge chucked out a case by former dictator Manuel Noriega's against publisher Activision for including his likeness in Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

What got Noriega's goat was that his likeness appeared in the game in a non-too nice way and no one thought to write him a cheque.

The suit, filed in July, alleged that Black Ops II's depiction of Noriega was "blatant misuse, unlawful exploitation and misappropriation for economic gain." Activision fought back hard, recruiting former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani to help defend them in court.

"This ruling is an important victory and we thank the court for protecting free speech," Giuliani said in a press release. "This was an absurd lawsuit from the very beginning and we're gratified that in the end, a notorious criminal didn't win. This is not just a win for the makers of Call of Duty, but is a victory for works of art across the entertainment and publishing industries throughout the world."

A company that is better known for its graphics cards wants to try a new thing and expand to the chassis market. The XFX team at Cebit has showcased a beta version of a nicely designed aluminium case. There is still no word on branding, the only thing certain that XFX logo will find its way onto it.

XFX is using some nice looking aluminium wrapped around a black birdcage styled case. There is plenty of space for ventilation and you will even have a glimpse to see some LEDs inside the case. The design might change as it is still in the early stage and the company might consider using some sound insulation in the future.

The back side has many openings, including four possible rubber flapped holes for water-cooling, and it should be able to cope with multiple graphics cards and a bottom placed PSU. The thing will come in a few months so there might be some changes in the production version.

From what we can tell, it looks like a high quality product, with a nice finish. It is well designed, but people will want to see the thermal specs when it comes out. It could be a very nice choice for high end rigs.

Just kidding of course, even Daredevil would've seen it coming, as Samsung and Apple continue their fight for the right to "innovate". Unfortunately, most of their innovations as of late have come on the legal front, i.e. how to spoil the other company's fun in an innovative manner.

According to Samsung's claims, Apple's iPad Mini, 4th gen iPad and 5th gen iPod Touch are in violation of Sammy's patents. The company is pretty much continuing the case against previous Apple devices, claiming that "all Apple products including a built-in speaker and an external audio output port" infringe on this patent.

In related news, Apple has received court orders to disclose details of its settlement with HTC to Samsung, so the entire legal war between the two is seriously approaching angry brat levels. The two companies are to continue their ongoing battle on 6th of December, so we'll see how that goes.

The class action against Sony over the fiasco involving its PSN service is about to be dismissed, or at least all signs point to that.

The case argued that Sony showed negligence and violated consumer protection rights of California by denying restitution and injunctive relief claims. It was said that earlier attacks made it clear Sony’s network was vulnerable, but that the company still did nothing to address this.

However, judge Anthony Battaglia dismissed these claims for lack of evidence of actual economic loss. Plaintiffs apparently failed to produce any actual proof, although amending and resubmitting evidence is still an option.

Apparently, the fact that PSN service is free of charge helped Sony with charges of violating consumer protection laws. By consenting to the company’s privacy policy, users agreed to the notion of “no such thing as perfect security”. Thus, customers had no right to expect uninterrupted service at all times.

The case can be amended and evidence resubmitted by 9th of November, but it is not very likely that Sony will be found guilty in the end.

IBM has told Wall Street that it has had to pay $160 million due to a ruling by the high court in London, in a legal dispute over retirement terms at its UK business. Big Blue said that the charges would not affect the company's operating reported results for the third quarter of 2012.

The company has been having a row with its employees over terms of its pensions for ages. The court decided that terms set in 1983 should be modified to allow some current IBM UK employees who are members of a specific plan to retire from the age of 60 instead of 63 without reduction of their defined benefit pension.

IBM said that it was considering an appeal. The company is scheduled to report on its third quarter financial results on Oct 16.